First Call Report Released Today
Today, during BC Youth Week, First Call BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition released “Child Labour is No Accident: The Experience of BC’s Working Children” an eighteen-month research project funded by the Law Foundation of B.C.
This report brings together original research through interviews and focus groups, with existing studies to examine the consequences of child labour laws in BC. The study focused on three areas of potential impact: health and safety, wages and working conditions, and education. It also contrasts BC’s law with employment standards in other jurisdictions.
“Most importantly, we were interested in hearing from young people about their work experiences,” explained Adrienne Montani, First Call’s Provincial Coordinator and an author of the report. “Their stories of their injuries and safety hazards at work provide some of the most compelling evidence in support of strengthening employment standards for children and youth.”
Click here to read report.
Click here to the backgrounder with key findings.
On the eve of publishing this report, WorksafeBC provided current data. This new data provides a startling indication of the risks working children face.
Click here to read these startling findings.
This website is home for the No Child Labour
June 12 is the World Day Against End Child Labour
Memo to Victoria: child labour laws are not “red tape”
Josh has scars from his first day on the job at an auto salvage company. While stacking car batteries, acid from a battery spilled, soaking through his clothes. He kept working, lifting tires, carrying car doors. He was cool about it because he was getting paid $10 an hour, more than he had ever earned. Josh was 12.
Click here to read the op ed by Adrienne Montani and Catherine Evans in today’s Vancouver Sun.
Sign the Petition to Stop Child Labour in BC
Child Labour in British Columbia is alive and well. Since 2004, child labour standards have been seriously eroded, allowing kids as young as 12 to work up to 35 hours a week, even in work environments that are hazardous. It’s time for government to take responsibility for the safety of children who work, rather than leaving it as the responsibility of the parent to ensure the workplace is safe and suitable for their children; restricting both the amount of hours children can work and then kind of work they are permitted to do. Please help families come first. Government needs to pass legislation that gets children out of hazardous and inappropriate work environments and the time for action is NOW!
CLICK HERE and sign the petition now!
Participate in our research project
First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition announced the launch of the BC Child Labour Standards Improvement Project. First Call hopes that through gathering current stories from children and youth about their work experiences, they can fill in some of the information that is missing about children as young as 12 who are working in BC.
The Project involves province-wide focus groups, interviews and a publicly accessible online Youth Work Experience Survey. The public survey is aimed at young workers, parents, and teachers in BC and hopes to capture the experiences of child and youth employment from various perspectives. The Project will inquire about job experience in three key areas: health and safety, labour standards, and impact on education.
About Child Labour in British Columbia
In 2003, the BC government lowered the work-start age (that’s the age you can work without government’s permission) to 12-years-old. Yes – you read that correctly. Since 2003 children aged 12 and up can work at virtually any worksite and at any time of day (with the exception of the film industry where employers must still get a permit to hire children).
When BC did this, we became the jurisdiction with the youngest work-start age in North America.
Since then, more children are working and getting hurt in the workplace. WorkSafeBC (BC’s workplace insurer) recorded a ten-fold increase in the number of accepted injury claims for 12 to 14 year olds on the job between 2004 and 2008. Read more…
